We are finding more and more churches that are being awakened by the research published in our book Already Gone, which deals with why and when two-thirds of young people are leaving the church. Two Sundays ago in Atlanta, the pastor invited families—with their children—down the front and prayed for their children that they wouldn’t be in that two-thirds.

Last evening in Broken Arrow First Baptist Church (Oklahoma), the pastor, Nick Garland, was moved to ask the congregation to join in small groups across the auditorium and pray for the church’s young people—to pray they wouldn’t be in the two-thirds.

I praise the Lord for pastors like Pastor Nick who understand the importance of the biblical creation message and stand on the authority of God’s Word. Pastor Garland was so dedicated to getting this message to his congregation that he did something I rarely experience: for this weekend he cancelled all the normal formalities of a church service, including the music. He basically opened each service in prayer, welcomed people, told them how important it was for them to listen to the message, and then handed over to me to speak to them.

For the three services, I had nearly an hour for each message—which gave me a great opportunity to de-secularize thinking and build a creation/Christian worldview, helping people understand the vital importance of standing on the authority of God’s Word beginning in Genesis.